Wells Hill Park
Parkette, one of the city's strongest overall (score 61, rank ~100th percentile). Strongest: connectivity; weakest: natural comfort.
Photo by martinaz Joice via Google Places · cached 5/9/2026
Wells Hill Park scores 61 / 100. Strongest dimensions: enclosure / eyes on park and connectivity. Weakest: amenity diversity (34.5). Border-vacuum risk is low. This score is a transparent reading of Jane Jacobs-style vitality factors — not a definitive judgment.
Area · 0.76 ha
Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 68%
Scores are not bell-curved. Percentiles and expected scores provide context without changing the underlying model.
Street context
Park polygon highlighted on the citywide map. Connectivity, transit, and edge conditions read at a glance.
Top-down view
City of Toronto orthophoto, ~8 cm/px. Reads the park’s footprint, paths, treed area, and edge conditions from above.
City of Toronto Orthophoto · cot_ortho most-current MapServer
Explain this score
Where did the 61 come from? Each weighted contribution against a neutral 50 baseline. Green = pushed up; red = pulled down.
Sum of contributions = the headline score. A negative bar means that dimension dragged the park below the city-wide neutral baseline.
Why this park works
What limits this park
Most distinctive characteristic
Jacobs reading
Tradeoffs
- Connectivity (79) significantly outpaces natural comfort (41) — well placed in the city but offers little shade or ecological respite.
- Strong physical conditions (score 61) but weak observed activity signals (9) — the model says this should work, but events, mentions, and counters say it isn't being used at the level the urban form would predict.
- High connectivity (79) coexists with little programming evidence — easy to reach, but no recurring civic life detected.
Performance in context
- This park is a strong overperformer for its cohort — raw 61 versus an expected 36 for similar parks (small Parkette) (gap +25).
Typology classification
Classified as Parkette: small (7575 m²) with strong building frontage (18.4 per 100 m)
Edge Activation
Within 100 m of the park edge: 9 active uses (retail, transit_stop, restaurant) and 1 dead/hostile uses (parking_lot). Active edges keep "eyes on the park" through the day; parking lots, blank institutional walls, rail and highway frontages drain street life.
Source: OSM POIs (amenity/shop) + Toronto Building Footprints + land use
Connectivity
Connectivity blends paths, intersections, transit, entrances, and edge density. This park has 13 mapped paths/walkways and 29 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 12 street intersections within 100 m; 37 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 11 estimated access points across ~402 m of perimeter. edge density is healthy — no superblock penalty. Source coverage: centreline, pedestrian_network, transit_osm.
Source: Toronto Centreline V2 + Pedestrian Network + OSM transit stops
Amenity Diversity
4 distinct amenity types in the park (picnic, playground, tennis, washroom). Diversity, not raw count, drives the score so a park with many distinct activity types can outrank a larger park that repeats the same use.
Source: Toronto Parks & Recreation Facilities + OSM amenity tags
Natural Comfort
Natural-comfort components for this park: ~6.3% effective canopy (0.0% from contiguous tree polygons + scattered tree density); nearest waterbody ~553 m; 9 city-mapped trees inside the polygon (9.0/ha). Reading: exposed. Source coverage: waterbodies, street_trees. Impervious surface is approximated (Toronto's authoritative layer ships only as a raster GeoTIFF).
Source: Toronto Treed Area + Ravine + Waterbodies + Street Tree Inventory
Enclosure / Eyes on Park
74 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (23 mid-rise, 47 low-rise, 4 tower); avg edge height 12.5 m (~4 floors); 18.4 buildings per 100 m of 402 m perimeter — strong frontage density; edges are at a Jacobs-scale walkable mid-rise (3–7 floors); 4 towers ≥ 40 m within 25 m of the edge. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 23 mid-rise edge buildings.
Source: Toronto 3D Massing (building footprints + heights)
Border Vacuum Risk
Park edges face the city — no significant border vacuum detected.
Source: Toronto Street Centreline (highways) + rail layer + OSM landuse + building footprints
Equity Context
Equity Context requires inputs not yet loaded for this park (Toronto Neighbourhood Profiles). Score is held at a neutral 50 with low confidence — read with caution.
Source: Toronto Neighbourhood Profiles
Amenities (4 types · 4 records)
- picnic
- playground
- tennis
- washroom
Nearby active-edge features (50)
- retail — Joe Fresh38 m
- retail — Loblaws50 m
- transit stop — Bathurst57 m
- transit stop — Bathurst58 m
- transit stop — St. Clair Av West, South Entrance62 m
- parking lot66 m
- restaurant — A&W74 m
- transit stop — St. Clair Av West, North Entrance78 m
- restaurant — Popeyes83 m
- retail — LCBO85 m
- retail — Annex RMT105 m
- transit stop — St. Clair West Station107 m
- transit stop — St. Clair West Station114 m
- parking lot119 m
- transit stop — Bathurst St at St Clair Ave West119 m
- transit stop — Bathurst St at St Clair Ave West120 m
- restaurant — Urban Fare Catering & Food Shop120 m
- retail — INS Market120 m
- retail — Freedom Mobile121 m
- transit stop — St. Clair West Station122 m
- retail — Blue Paisley Fine Rugs124 m
- retail — Dollarama126 m
- cafe — Bakery Garden Café127 m
- restaurant — Osmow's128 m
- parking lot130 m
- retail — Fantasy Dry Cleaning & Alteration132 m
- restaurant — Pizza Del Arte132 m
- parking lot135 m
- restaurant — Harvey's137 m
- transit stop — St. Clair West Station138 m
- retail — Clairhurst Eye Care142 m
- transit stop — St. Clair West Station150 m
- retail — Evergreen Natural Foods150 m
- transit stop — Bathurst152 m
- transit stop — Bathurst152 m
- transit stop — Helena Avenue154 m
- restaurant — Booyah158 m
- restaurant — Wychwood Pub162 m
- retail — Neighbors Market163 m
- retail — Pet Mama172 m
- retail — Source Organics182 m
- transit stop — St. Clair West183 m
- retail — Wine Rack183 m
- transit stop — St. Clair West185 m
- retail — Prayasha187 m
- transit stop — Tweedsmuir196 m
- transit stop — Tweedsmuir Avenue196 m
- transit stop — Vaughan198 m
- transit stop — Vaughan198 m
- restaurant — Kiyo Japanese Cuisine198 m
Park profile
Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.
Citywide percentile ranks
Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.
- Overall vitality100th
- Edge activation96th
- Connectivity98th
- Amenity diversity96th
- Natural comfort40th
- Enclosure97th
Most similar parks
Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.
- Grange ParkNeighbourhood Park60
- East Toronto Athletic FieldNeighbourhood Park50
- Alexandra ParkNeighbourhood Park55
- Stanley Park South - TorontoAthletic / Recreation Park60
- Trace Manes ParkAthletic / Recreation Park55
Most opposite parks
Furthest in metric space — useful for recognising what kind of park this isn’t.
- Toronto Islands - Muggs Island ParkRavine / Naturalized Park25
- Trca Lands ( 26)Ravine / Naturalized Park27
- Rouge ParkWaterfront Park25
- Rouge ParkRavine / Naturalized Park28
- Rouge ParkRavine / Naturalized Park26
Visitor signals
Public attention measured by Google Places aggregates. This proxies attention, not occupancy. Aggregate-only — no usernames, no review text, no extra photos beyond the cached hero.
“Trees stud this low-key park offering picnic tables & a children's playground & wading pool.” — Google editorial summary
p83 citywide · p88 within Parkette
Source: Google Places API · match unverified (0.00 composite confidence) · last refreshed 5/9/2026. Privacy contract. Measures public attention, not occupancy.
Human activity signals
Programming, social attention, temporal rhythm, and nearby pedestrian / cycling flow. An experimental aggregate layer that complements the spatial scores — partial coverage, partial confidence.
Activity reading: no inputs available. The strongest signal is public attention / mentions. Source coverage: google-places.
Does this score feel accurate?
Your read of Wells Hill Parkmatters. We’re testing whether the model lines up with how people actually use the park. Submissions are stored locally; no account needed.
Tell us how this park feels
We measure structure (canopy, edges, connectivity). You measure feeling. Both matter — and disagreement is itself useful civic data.
What would improve this park?
Generated from the weakest measured dimensions — a starting point, not a prescription.
- Diversify what people can do in the park — playground, washroom, water, shade, performance, sport, garden — even small additions raise this score.
- Increase canopy and reduce paved area. Shade and water features extend usable hours and seasons.
Data sources
- City of Toronto Open Data — Parks (Green Space)Polygon boundaries, official names, types.
- Parks & Recreation FacilitiesInventory of in-park amenities (washrooms, fields, rinks…).
- Toronto Pedestrian NetworkSidewalk segments around and through parks; estimated park entrances.
- Toronto Centreline V2Street segments + intersection nodes near park edges; trails and walkways.
- Toronto 3D MassingBuilding footprints + heights for edge-building counts, frontage density, and tower-in-the-park risk.
- Toronto Treed AreaTree canopy share inside park polygons via stratified-grid sampling.
- Toronto Waterbodies & RiversWater surface inside parks + nearest-water distance for cooling.
- Ravine & Natural Feature ProtectionRavine overlap as a cooling / natural-comfort signal.
- Toronto Street Tree InventoryTree count + density inside park polygons.
- Neighbourhood Profiles(Pending) Equity context proxy.
- OpenStreetMap (Overpass API)Cafés, restaurants, retail, transit stops, parking, highways, rail.